European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 30, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 stars and stripes sunday March 30, 1986 new York times photo Alex Zanieski jr., who is Selling his potato farm near Cutchogue n. Y. Hope rings hollow for America s Farmers All across Rural America tractors Are being tuned up and plow Blades cleaned. In the feed and seed stores talk has turned to planting. Already there Are calves in the pastures and suckling in the pig pens. But this Spring the Hope rings hollow. By Bob Dart and David Beasley Cox news services he eternal optimism of his Farmer forebears is gone from the deep drawl of Carlton Clifton As he talks of losing his family land in Candler county ga., to foreclosure. He owes $750,000 to the Farmers Home administration the Federal Bank of last resort for Farmers who can t get commercial Loans. A Bountiful crop of soybeans and a ready Market this year would hardly Dent this debt. Sometimes Clifton s 11-year-old son wakes up at night from the fear of losing his Home afraid of abandoning the Way of life of his father and Grandfather. Hell come to my bed and want to know if we re going to have to move. It really worries him said Clifton whose parents also live on the family farm. Financial failure would devastate his Mother he said. I think it would kill her to have to  the Story of farm foreclosures is a familiar Saga nowadays. Nationally 100,000 Farmers could go out of business in 1986. The Farmers Home administration alone has sent out warnings to 65,000 delinquent borrowers. We re in danger of losing a whole generation of Farmers warns Bob Bergland agriculture Secretary under former president Carter. The Farmers in deepest trouble Are in their 30s and Early 40s, the Young plungers who borrowed big to expand during the Boom times of the Early 1970s. Behind every statistic on farm foreclosures is a personal tragedy. But change on the farm scene including the death of Many family farms is probably As inevitable As it is sad. The farming business is in such a state that we re going to have to see considerable Down sizing said Bergland. It s simply too big and too productive for world  the Reagan administration has already spent More on farm Aid $18 billion for fiscal 1986 alone than any administration in history. The number of Farmers in America has been dwindling for Over a Century As technology enabled Ever fewer growers to feed Ever More people. Inside and outside of government there is a Blunt realization that there will be significantly fewer farm families come autumn than there Are now regardless of what happens in Washington. There Are severe survival problems for too Many of our farm families said Richard Lyng who is awaiting Senate confirmation to become Secretary of agriculture. I believe the american people want agriculture saved said Tommy Irvin Georgia s commissioner of agriculture. No doubt that s True. Agriculture was the original american Industry. The family farm occupies a special place in the National psyche. A recent new York times lbs news poll showed that 58 percent of the populace believes farm life is More honest and moral than life in the rest of the  the poll also showed that 55 percent of the Public would be willing to pay More taxes if it would help Farmers save their land. But the fact is that most americans Are very far removed from the land. The poll showed that half of All americans would want to live on a farm if they could make a living at it. But in reality Only 2.5 percent of the population does live on farms. And these few Farmers produce too much of almost everything for Many of them to make a profit. It s Basic economics. Too much Supply. Not enough demand. That s the Core of the farm crisis. The Reagan administration through the 1985 farm Bill Hopes to help american Farmers sell More on world markets by lowering the Federal support prices for crops. In recent years Federal supports have been higher than Market prices so in effect the government ended up buying the bulk of such Basic crops As wheat and Corn. Without any doubt it seems to me the highest priority the most essential of goals is to improve . Agricultural exports said Lyng. The major thrust of the 1985 food Security act the farm Bill is to make . Farm exports competitive again in world  but others argue that the plan won t work. I think the new farm Bill is a disaster said Bergland disputing the Basic premise that reducing the Price that american Farmers will get for their crops will end up making them More profitable through greater Export sales. That assumes the canadians and australians and other Grain exporters of the world Are going to Roll Over and play dead he said. This policy is going to do for Grain what the saudis have done for Oil increase a worldwide glut and Force prices even lower. Folks talk a lot about farm economics in Metter ga., a town of 3,900 people stuck amid the Row crops and Piney Woods about 65 Miles West of Savannah. Most of the people Here Are connected with farming in some Way said mayor Leon Hadden. Farming is the biggest thing we be got in  nowadays trouble is a neighbor. I d say 100 percent of the Farmers Here Are in a financial bind said Brad Phillips director of the local agricultural Extension service. To City dwellers struggling with a $100,000 or so mortgage it s staggering How much Money Farmers owe. Carlton Clifton reckons that he lost Between $50,000 and $80,000 on his farm operation each year since 1981. He has t been Able to make a payment on his $750,000 debt to the Omha in three years. Therefore his interest has piled up until he now owes More than double the original $350,000 he borrowed from the government. But Back in 1973 when soybeans brought $ 10 a Bushel and exports were booming Clifton s farm debts looked manageable. Indeed the Federal government urged Farmers to expand to Plant Fence Row to Fence Row and reap profits. Since then he s been hit with droughts Boycotts High interest rates and Low land values. Now he Sells his soybeans for about $5 a Bushel and Hopes he can find a buyer for his land before he faces foreclosure. He d like an outside investor to Purchase the farm and let him manage it. Clifton is not atypical. The Omha has about $28.3 billion in Loans outstanding about 13 percent of the nation s total farm debt of $212 billion. Of its 270,000 farm borrowers Over 65,000 Are delinquent in their payments. Over 27,000 Farmers have not made a payment in Over three years and could face foreclosure. Before getting a Omha loan to Plant this Spring said Vance Clark the Agency s administrator Farmers Are going to have to show a Cash flow that indicates they will be Able to eventually repay their Loans. The Omha is not the heartless Lender that it is sometimes depicted to be in farm foreclosures said Clark. However it deals in Loans not Grants to Farmers and the Agency owes it to the taxpayers not to lend Money to Farmers who have no Hope of Ever repaying it he said. For most americans the agricultural crisis is a Story on the evening to news of a Farmer committing suicide when faced with losing his family land. Food is plentiful and relatively cheap in the nation s supermarkets and is Likely to remain that Way despite the coming farm foreclosures according to agricultural economists